GOSSIP - About owners, FO, coaching staff, scouts and Kings things in general

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pshn80

Starter
#91
#91
Jone's column in the Bee this AM on his interview with Divak is worth a read. Essentially Vlade is repeating what he has said before, that the FO in working hard together towards getting ready for the draft, etc. and building a FO working as a team which is the first step to getting the players to work as a team. Nothing new but good to hear emphasis on shoring up the FO.
MOD NOTE: Excerpt from article and link added.

Kings, Divac ready for this week's NBA draft combine
jejones@sacbee.com

Vlade Divac is the first to admit he doesn’t know everything about preparing for the NBA draft.

So in the weeks leading up to this week’s draft combine, the Kings’ vice president of basketball and franchise operations has been meeting daily with general manager Pete D’Alessandro and assistant general manager Mike Bratz before they watched hours of game footage of college and international prospects.

The meetings are aimed at ensuring the Kings make the best selection in the draft June 25. But they’re also intended to build rapport in the front office and establish a singular goal of improving the team...
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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nba/sacramento-kings/kings-blog/article20876313.html#storylink=cpy
 
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G

Gilles

Starter
#95
#95
Kings' PR team finally decided to stop screwing around, removed photo of Williams dunking from the background of their twitter account and instead put a photo of Boogie, Rudy, Darren and Ben together.
 
Warhawk

Warhawk

Give blood and save a life!
Staff member
#101
#101
Have no idea who these guys are, but for what it is worth:

http://www.sportando.com/en/usa/nba...alted-all-communication-with-dean-oliver.html

There is continued instability in the Kings front office.

High profile former ESPN analytics guru, Dean Oliver who was hand picked by owner Vivek Ranadive, as Director of Player Personnel, and Head of Analytics a season ago, and who has multiple years left on his contract with the Kings - was told by new Kings VP Vlade Divac not to attend NBA Summer League.

Oliver was in attendance anyway and was seen with King coaches. Oliver was not permitted to be there in his official capacity with the team.

Divac has told confidants that he is strongly opposed to the use of analytics in evaluating players, and has halted all communication with Oliver.
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John Galt

John Galt

Starter
#102
#102
lol Vlade and the Kings getting roasted some more on social media, what else is new. Us against the world - I love it.

What has Dean Oliver done for me lately anyway - I don't care if Vlade is ostracizing him. Maybe he's just a dick and doesn't fit in the culture. Or maybe the story is outright BS. Maybe he has been one of the main leaks all along? Who knows. But I'm ready to go all in with Vlade's hand after the last 8 years.
 
steelevt

steelevt

All-Star
#103
#103
Warhawk said:
Have no idea who these guys are, but for what it is worth:

http://www.sportando.com/en/usa/nba...alted-all-communication-with-dean-oliver.html
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Vlade has done a great job this offseason. But he's not perfect and can't do it all on his own. Especially as a rookie gm. Should be accepting all the help he needs in aspects he is not strong in. (Ie capology analytics) Don't know if this story is true or not but I believe you shouldn't totally rule out any form of evaluating talent. Whether it's old school eye ball test or analytics, every form of evaluating can be helpful and any suggestions should at least be listened to. Just ask that warriors video guy and Steve Kerr
 
ockingsfan

ockingsfan

Starter
#104
#104
steelevt said:
Vlade has done a great job this offseason. But he's not perfect and can't do it all on his own. Especially as a rookie gm. Should be accepting all the help he needs in aspects he is not strong in. (Ie capology analytics) Don't know if this story is true or not but I believe you shouldn't totally rule out any form of evaluating talent. Whether it's old school eye ball test or analytics, every form of evaluating can be helpful and any suggestions should at least be listened to. Just ask that warriors video guy and Steve Kerr
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Analytics netted us Nik Stauskas in last year's draft. enough said.
 
P

pshn80

Starter
#105
#105
steelevt said:
Vlade has done a great job this offseason. But he's not perfect and can't do it all on his own. Especially as a rookie gm. Should be accepting all the help he needs in aspects he is not strong in. (Ie capology analytics) Don't know if this story is true or not but I believe you shouldn't totally rule out any form of evaluating talent. Whether it's old school eye ball test or analytics, every form of evaluating can be helpful and any suggestions should at least be listened to. Just ask that warriors video guy and Steve Kerr
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What is capalogy analytics? Any thing like player effectiveness analytics?

Maybe it is the analytics guru and not the analytics. Maybe there is no basis for the speculation. Great gossip though.
 
ElRey

ElRey

Starter
#106
#106
John Galt said:
lol Vlade and the Kings getting roasted some more on social media, what else is new. Us against the world - I love it.

What has Dean Oliver done for me lately anyway - I don't care if Vlade is ostracizing him. Maybe he's just a dick and doesn't fit in the culture. Or maybe the story is outright BS. Maybe he has been one of the main leaks all along? Who knows. But I'm ready to go all in with Vlade's hand after the last 8 years.
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Exactly, what has player analytics done for us lately? Stauskas? If it was so good, no one would miss in the draft!
 
steelevt

steelevt

All-Star
#107
#107
pshn80 said:
What is capalogy analytics? Any thing like player effectiveness analytics?

Maybe it is the analytics guru and not the analytics. Maybe there is no basis for the speculation. Great gossip though.
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Sorry forgot the comma. Or should have phrased it capology or analytics
 
A

Amit149

Bench
#108
#108
ockingsfan said:
Analytics netted us Nik Stauskas in last year's draft. enough said.
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ElRey said:
Exactly, what has player analytics done for us lately? Stauskas? If it was so good, no one would miss in the draft!
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That's just bullcrap... we all know who made the pick for us... here are some quotes from an article made right after the draft:

"One trend was very apparent to Kings Chairman and Majority Owner Vivek Ranadivé. Every time he asked about the Draft, one name came up.

“Even before last season was over, every now and then I would ask Coach (Michael Malone), ‘Who do you like in the Draft?” stated Ranadivé. “And the one name he always came up with was Nik Stauskas. And he would say, ‘V, you have to watch this kid from Michigan – he’s great. I love that kid.’ So he’s liked this kid since last season, and he’s delighted to have him on the team.”

Also from that article- "Scouts praised his confidence on the court and off".

And it's not like Nik was this great analytics prospect... in a NBA piece about who analytics rate best in the draft Nik's name comes up twice- once as a prospect that doesn't measure well in rebound precentage and the second time as one who is among the worst in steal precentage.
Nik can shoot- and that fits the general analytics approach (which is pretty proven- look which teams made the final four and where did they rank on 3 point shooting) but doesn't mean he is an analytic darling.

At the end of the day it's just more knowledge- you can decide how to use it, ignoring it is flat out stupid.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#112
#112
1) consider the source please. This guy doesn't even bother with the "league sources say" stuff. Maybe they prefer the bald faced lie in Europe.

2) this could EASILY, much like the Woj stuff around the draft, be a dude in need of clicks taking some statements that Vlade made in his Voison interviews about analytics being overrated and let's say "embellishing" them. Consider this possible scenario: the Kings saw no reason for their analytics guru, whose job afterall is to analyze the numbers after the fact, to be down scouting in Vegas, and told him that if he wanted to show up down there it would be on his own dime. Then spin spin spin.

3) now if it were true also consider this: Dean Oliver is a potential problem. He was another of Gerbil's Denver hires (and consider who might have leaked this too). Where do his loyalties lie? Gerbil? George Karl? Last year he was the statistical ovrsight guy for the Reno 911 experiment.
 
A

Amit149

Bench
#114
#114
Bricklayer said:
1) consider the source please. This guy doesn't even bother with the "league sources say" stuff. Maybe they prefer the bald faced lie in Europe.

2) this could EASILY, much like the Woj stuff around the draft, be a dude in need of clicks taking some statements that Vlade made in his Voison interviews about analytics being overrated and let's say "embellishing" them. Consider this possible scenario: the Kings saw no reason for their analytics guru, whose job afterall is to analyze the numbers after the fact, to be down scouting in Vegas, and told him that if he wanted to show up down there it would be on his own dime. Then spin spin spin.
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Sportnado are actually pretty good... also this:

Carmichael Dave ‏@CarmichaelDave
Dean Oliver is no longer with the Sacramento Kings.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#115
#115
steelevt said:
Well it seems to work for the rockets and Spurs. But who wants to be continual playoff teams anyways. Let's just totally ignore analytics and stats and hire Charles Barkley to our front office.
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People really REALLY need to quit accusing Daryl Morey of making moves based on analytics. That gets annoying after a while. Daryl Morey might like his teams to play three and dunk gimmmick ball, but his personnel moves? Good lord people. He gave that up years ago. All he does is try to cherry pick whatever star type player hits the market, regardless of analytics. Regardless of anything. he's actually been maybe the most "old school" GM in ht league for several years now playing a pure we need stars game. harden's out there, let's get him. Ooh..Dwight's out there! Sure analytics say he's not the same guy but...star! Josh Smith, ooh! Look at those numbers! You're hired! Ooh...I bet we can throw a balloon payment contract and get us some Linsanity! Or wait...how about an alcoholic PG who can't shoot! Bingo! Respect my brain bitches!

Believe it or not the league survived and great teams were built again and again before the analytics age. GMing is largely an art, not a statistical science.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#116
#116
Amit149 said:
Sportnado are actually pretty good... also this:

Carmichael Dave ‏@CarmichaelDave
Dean Oliver is no longer with the Sacramento Kings.
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And there you go.

So let's fix our B.S. story a little bit:

1) Dean Oliver was a longtime Denver guy, hired by PDA to come over and create his little Denver paradise West
2) Meanwhile Denver's former coach, who also knows Dean, is causing ****ing havoc within the organization trying to play politics andgain allies
3) We fire PDA
4) We tell Karl to shut up
5) Because of one of those moves Dean Oliver (could he be a leak source?) is on the outs too and is let go, or asks to go.
6) Quite obviously we no more want Oliver showing up in Vegas in an official capacity for us at that point than we'd want PDA showing up for us
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#117
#117
If this story ends up being true, and it appears on the surface to have some legs, there has to be more to it than Vlade just doesn't like analytic's. I suspect that Oliver and Vlade have been at odds over some of Vlade's decisions, and Vlade finally had enough. I believe that Oliver's position was director of player personnel. It has a lofty ring to it, an if I held such a position, I'd think I had some input into personnel decisions. Just a guess on my part, but I suspect that Oliver started to complain about no one (Vlade) paying attention to his info.

Personally I'm more old school and put more emphasis on what I see than I do some stats on a sheet of paper. However, I do think some of that info is valuable. I won't go into into it because this post would become a book. Point being, that I think it has its place, but isn't the end all be all. Oliver, being considered the father of analytic's in the NBA, is no doubt very passionate about what he believes. No one likes to be ignored. So I can see both sides of this. Vlade would probably prefer an analytic's guy that simply gave him information when he asked for it. Or, and I hate to even bring this up, but maybe they need to open up a position for Peja? Naw!
 
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